Peter Thiel Mulls Creating Conservative News Network With Mercers

Thiel had hoped to meet with Fox's Roger Ailes about the idea, but Ailes died before the meeting could take place.

According to Bloomberg News, billionaire investor Peter Thiel is reportedly looking to start a conservative news network with the help of the Mercers and a handful of Fox News personalities.

Last May, Thiel was set to meet with former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes to discuss the idea, according to an excerpt of the book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," by the journalist Michael Wolff. But two days before the scheduled meeting, Ailes fell, hit his head and went into a coma, and died soon thereafter.

Nonetheless, Thiel, one of Facebook Inc.’s earliest backers and a prominent conservative activist, has continued to pursue the idea, according to BuzzFeed News, and is talking with the Mercer family about helping to back it. A spokesman for Thiel declined to comment.